This is regarded as the holy grail Ibanez RG550, a 1987 MIJ Ibanez RG550 in Road Flare Red. This color was only offered for one year and it's friggin hard to capture on camera. Neon red kinda.Found this on Yahoo Auctions Japan for ~220€/260$, and besides some gunk and discoloration on the fretboard, the body has no dings or scratches.These were the firs RGs that were released together withthe first Jems and I guess Ibanez really wanted to set a mark and footprint in the guitar market back then. This one has a one piece body.These first series RGs came with V2 bridge and V1 neck pups that were wound by Maxon in Japan. After 30 years of "natural aging" these truly sound phenomenal. The V2 like vintage throaty Super Distortion and the V1 like neck PAF from the late 50s.So much for teh first impression....now off to de-gunking the fretboard and sanding down the back of the neck for a Tru-Oil/Wax finish ;-)

All cleaned up, new pots and wiring. Polished the frets with StewMac Fret Erasers (8000 grit) and, despite this being a 30year old guitar with original frets, theres no need for a refret for even a fret level. I set the truss rod for a completely straight neck and theres no buzz or fret-outs with the action being super low (1mm E, 0.7mm e @12th).The pups (V2 bridge and V1 neck) are not super high output but, after having "naturally aged" for 30 years, there's really some PAF'ish Mojo with a twist going on...no need to swap them out.

Wizard neck and an awesome pickups set.The pickups, even if unmarked, are the same V2-S1-V1 set I've on my 1991 RG570 and they're actually very good units.I'va a couple of F2/F1 IBZ/USA I want to try on the 570, but stock pickups are fine.